THE REGIME SEIZES STUDIO B

AIM Belgrade, February 16, 1996

On Thursday, when during broadcasting of the statement
of Milorad Roganovic, the discharged director, program of
Independent Television Studio B was interrupted, it became
clear that that which everyone has been expecting for months
has happened. The best known independent television station
has become property of the state. Despite remonstrance not
only of the employees of Studio B, but also of all indepenednt
organizations and institutions, as well as the entire
opposition in Serbia, the Supreme Court of Serbia (whose
operation is controlled by the ruling Socialist Party of
Serbia) reached a decision by which all foundation rights were
transferred to the Assembly of Belgrade dominated by a
majority of Socialists. Referring to the document of the
Supreme Court, the District Economic Court in Belgrade deleted
Studio B from the court register, returning the status of this
house to the one it had back in 1972 - that of a public
enterprise.

Following the recipe applied not long ago in the case
of the independent daily "Nasa Borba", as well as a series of
local media, with this, according to the general opinion,
political decision, control was established over the program
and information disseminated by the first independent Belgrade
tv station. The fact that the first President of the
Management Board will be the Secretary of the Assembly of
Belgrade, socialist Ljubisa Milic, and that the other members
of this board are also mostly officials of the city of
Belgrade speak in favour of this opinion.

While the former Director of Studio B, Milorad
Roganovic, immediately after this decision had been made
public, declared that he had been caught unprepared by it,
Mayor of Belgrade, a highly esteemed Socialist, Nebojsa Covic,
refused to make any comments. Nevertheless, in a statement
given to journalists in the Assembly of Belgrade, Covic quite
clearly indicated the future "cultural and sports orientation"
of this television station.

"This is the end", Dragan Kojadinovic, until recently
president of the Management Board of Studio B said and added,
"the only consolation is that those who wish to provide the
exitential minimum for themselves by working in Studio B, will
be able to do so."

In the course of Friday morning, while several hundred
citizens and representatives of all leading opposition parties
were protesting in front of the building of Television Studio
B, the newly appointed Editor-in-Chief, Dragisa Kovacevic,
handed out dismissals to all journalists, and there are about
20 of them, who refused either in writing or verbally, loyalty
to the new leadership of the station. It is interesting that
among the discharged employees are mostly program creators.
United in the assessment of the document which made their
station state-owned, a delegation of "rebellious" journalists
talked to the Mayor of Belgrade and handed him demands for
modification of the decision of the Supreme Court. Covic
promised that it would all be considered at one of the future
sessions of the city Assembly.

Abolition of independence of Studio B in a certain
sense "united" stances of the leading opposition parties. At a
joint press conference, in front of a large number of domestic
and foreign journalists, representatives of the Serb Revival
Movement, the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of
Serbia, the Civic Alliance and the National Party of
Montenegro assessed that the destiny of Studio B was closely
connected with the destiny of the opposition and announced
future activities "in defence of freedom of the media". As it
was stated, these parties have convened urgent sessions of
their deputy clubs in all the assemblies, from the federal to
the city assembly, and established a Board for Protection of
Studio B. The possibility of organizing a protest rally was
also mentioned. Vuk Draskovic, leader of the most powerful
Serb opposition party, in his address to the journalists said
that on Friday, letters were sent to all relevant
representatives of international community demanding an answer
to the question "whether agreements in Dayton and Paris gave
Slobodan Milosevic freedom to do whatever he pleased in
Serbia".

According to the opinion of the head of the Democratic
Party, Zoran Djindjic, the reason for "strangling" Studio B
lies in the fact that March 9 is approaching, the date when,
although officially banned, a great rally of opposition
parties is scheduled to take place. Djindjic also believes
that the Socialists wish to completely limit the space for the
media before the announced federal elections.

It should be added that numerous international
organizations offered support to Studio B, too. EU
International Relations Commissar, Hans van Den Brook demanded
"that measures be taken for preservation of independence of
Studio B". The International Federation of Journalists,
Reporters without Frontiers, the Editor-in-Chief of Polish
daily "Gazeta Vibircza", Adam Mihnyik, also sharply reacted
against the document on taking over of this station by the
city authorities.

It should, nevertheless, be said that Independent
Television Studio B was in fact "abolished" at the moment -
and that was two years ago - when due to misunderstandings
with the former director Dragan Kojadinovic, the station was
abandoned by its best journalists, about 40 of them. The only
thing worth its while since then in the station was its
independence. Shortly, the possibility of broadcasting news
which were not "window-dressed" and all kinds of different
political stances. Despite that, placing Studio B under
patronage of the state is a move which will, broadly speaking
in the context of the information space, have much
farther-reaching consequences. It is a general opinion that,
at this moment and before the federal elections and then those
in the republic, the ruling party wishes to free itself of the
risk of having circulation of information which it cannot
control.